


Promposals

by frankiesin



Series: The Marching Band AU [10]
Category: Bandom, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Marching Band, Fluff, Genderfluid Gerard, Non-binary gerard, Other, Promposals, teens doing shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-14 04:12:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5729095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frankiesin/pseuds/frankiesin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frank's going to ask Gee to prom, he just hasn't figured out the details of how. </p><p>(Part of the Marching Band AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promposals

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little fluff thing I came up with. It's part of this marching band AU thing that I'm doing. There's going to be a bigger story with multiple chapters, but I haven't finished that yet so I'm just kind of drabbling for now.
> 
> This should make sense on it's own, though.

Gee wasn't super hard to describe. They were the quirky artist type, badly dyed hair and week old clothes included. They were soft, vocally and physically. They never asked for coffee or a cigarette, just wiggled their fingers in the direction of the thing they wanted. Frank had figured Gee out for the most part by the time his junior prom came around, but he didn't know Gee like Mikey did. Because of this, Frank was hogging Mikey from Gee, claiming he needed their little brother for some band thing. 

 

Frank was pretty sure Gee didn't believe that.  _ Mikey _ didn't believe it, because he had been staring at Frank the entire time Frank had been kicking the doors of bathroom stalls to make sure they were empty. Once he checked the last one, he finally turned to face Mikey. “Okay. So. How should I ask Gee to prom?”

 

“With your words.” Mikey said. Frank leaned his head against the bathroom wall and then immediately jerked back because there was no way that wall was sanitary. Frank rubbed his hand over his face. “Mikey, please. I'm being serious.”

 

Mikey rolled his eyes. “It’s not a big deal. They like you, you like them. Get flowers or something.”

 

Frank opened his mouth to tell Mikey that Mikey obviously didn’t know Gee as well as he thought he did when Mikey’s phone dinged. Five times. In quick succession. Both boys stared at the object as Mikey pulled it out of the front pocket of his jeans. Mikey’s mouth twitched up (a good sign), and he tapped something back before sliding his phone back into his jeans. “That was Pete. I have a prom date.”

 

“What the fuck, man, that’s not even fair.” Frank kicked the wall with his foot. Of course Pete had to choose to date the lower maintenance Way and Frank had to choose Gee. Not that Frank  _ wouldn’t  _  choose Gee, because Gee was the best person ever, but when it came to high school rites of passage like prom, Frank really hated Pete Wentz.

 

He also hated Pete Wentz because the guy got some sick enjoyment out of being short, which just wasn’t right in Frank’s eyes, but that was irrelevant. Pete Wentz sucked because he could ask Mikey to prom over text, probably using nothing but emojis, and Frank couldn’t do the same for Gee. Frank also hadn’t been secretly dating Gee for almost two years. Pete’s life was so much easier. It wasn’t fucking fair.

 

Frank rubbed his face. “Mikey, please. Help me out and I won’t tell Gee you’re going to prom.”

 

“Fine.” Mikey said. Frank grinned. He was so glad that Gee was an over-protective older sibling with lasting suspicions about Pete Wentz’s intentions towards their baby brother.    
  


* * *

 

 

Frank’s leg was twitching, and for once it wasn’t because of too much coffee. He was only on his first cup. His leg was twitching because he was nervous, and he was paranoid that either no one would show up or that Gee would show up with Mikey and then this brilliant secret meeting idea wouldn’t work at all. 

 

His leg didn’t stop twitching even when he saw Lindsey come in, bobbing her head to whatever music was coming out of her earbuds. She didn’t get in line, instead scanning the Starbucks and looking for Frank. He waved a hand over his head, but it still took her a minute to find him. It was because he was short, and there were a lot of people in Starbucks for a Saturday morning at eleven. 

 

Lindsey maneuvered her way across the room and slid into the booth beside Frank. She pulled out her earbuds and carefully wound them around her iPhone before dropping it unceremoniously into her black leather purse. And then she whirled on Frank, her signature pigtails momentarily defying gravity from how fast she turned. “So. You’re finally growing a pair and asking Gee out.”

 

“That’s the plan.” Frank said, trying to sound less frightened than he was. Lindsey and Ray were Gee’s best friends, and Mikey was their brother, and of the three of them, Lindsey was probably the most terrifying. After all, she had hit Brendon with her trombone slide in Frank’s freshman year. She had also offered to hit Pete if Gee thought that he was being too flirty or whatever towards Mikey. Pete’s head was still normal, so Frank assumed that he was fine.

 

Lindsey nodded. “Good. Just, do it quickly, okay? Because Mikey and I made bets and I’m trying to win here.”

 

“You’ll never win against Mikey.” Ray said, making his presence known and sitting down across from Frank. Ray had a coffee clutched between his hands. He took a quick sip from it. “Mikey knows everything. It’s freaky, in a cool way.”

 

“Naturally.” Lindsey said. She leaned out of the booth, narrowing her eyes and obviously looking to see if Mikey had shown up yet. She pulled back and shook her head. “He’s late.”

 

“Of course he’s late. It’s not like he could ask Gee for a ride, and he doesn’t have a license yet.” Ray said. Lindsey reached into her purse, digging around for something. She eventually came up with her phone. Her earbuds had come unwound and were now wrapped around a pair of round sunglasses and a tube of what Frank assumed was lipstick. It could have been eyeliner for all he knew. He wasn’t Pete Wentz. He didn’t live off of eyeliner.

 

“Don’t bother texting him, Lyn-z.” Ray said, taking another small sip of coffee. “Pete’s probably his ride.”

 

“Oh.” Lindsey dropped the mess of phone and purse innards back down. She adjusted how she was sitting so that one leg was tucked up under her, and rested her elbows on the table. “We can start without Mikey. Between the three of us, we probably know Gee’s whole life story, right?”

 

“We better.” Frank said. “I’m not embarrassing myself in front of the whole fucking band to get a rejection.”

 

“They aren’t going to reject you, Frank, come on.” Ray said. He actually looked annoyed. Frank was surprised that it had taken him so long. Ray had been dealing with Frank’s never-ending crush on Gee for almost six years and this was the first time he had ever shown any signs of being done with Frank’s pining. 

 

“Okay, so, maybe not.” Frank said. He basically knew that Gee liked him. They’d made out with him at the state championship, and even though Frank had never gotten around to talking with them about it, it didn’t seem to matter. Gee and Frank were still friends, they still stayed over at each other’s houses and snuck each other cigarettes when their parents weren’t looking. The only difference was that occasionally Gee would just flop down across Frank’s lap and use him as a pillow when they were watching movies. If Mikey was in the room he would roll his eyes and pull out his phone, probably texting Pete and complaining how his older sibling had no sense of decency and that Mikey was going to gag or something.

 

Frank stared at his half finished coffee. “I just want it to be cool.”

 

“We’ll make it cool, I promise.” Ray reached across the table and ruffled Frank’s hair. Frank flipped him off and Lindsey laughed at them both. Frank leaned back and grabbed his coffee, but he didn’t drink from it. “I have an idea. Kind of. You know how Gee likes dramatics, right? And they’re kind of in charge of the marching band until Brendon takes over next year?”

 

* * *

 

 

It was almost an hour later when Mikey and Pete finally showed up. By then, Ray was on his second coffee, Frank was on his third, and Lindsey was picking apart a blueberry muffin and still refusing to get any actual coffee. None of the three of them were surprised that Mikey’s jacket collar was turned up so that his neck wasn’t visible, or that Pete was proudly sporting the beginnings of a hickey right in the middle of his throat.

 

Pete slid into the booth next to Ray first and then pulled Mikey down on top of him, ignoring the Mikeyway Signature Glare he got for his efforts. Pete wrapped his arms around Mikey and Mikey leaned over so that his elbows were on the table. He looked like a lanky hunchback. His glasses were crooked. “So. How much have you got planned out already?”

 

“Most of it.” Lindsey turned her mini sketch pad around so that Mikey (and Pete) could see the doodles and bullet point notes mapping out the plan. Mikey adjusted his glasses and Pete leaned around him so that the both of them could read at the same time. Frank watched, his leg bouncing again, but this time it was probably the coffee. Or nerves. Actually, it was probably both. If Mikey thought that this was a dumb plan, then it was probably a really dumb plan. Mikey knew Gee best. Mikey’s opinion was the most important. 

 

It was weird, how Frank dealt with these three (Pete didn’t count, because Pete was just Mikey’s driver at the moment). Trust Ray with everything, because Ray was dependable and wouldn’t tell Gee or hold it over Frank’s head. Fear Lindsey, because she was dangerous and cool and had known Gee since Kindergarten and therefore would be able to tell them anything if she wanted to. And of course, depend on Mikey because Mikey knew Gee so fucking well it was scary. Mikey also didn’t hold back if he thought an idea was shit. Frank had seen Mikey critique some of Gee’s art using only his eyebrows, and then Frank had watched as Gee completely changed the art based only on eyebrow movements.

 

It was ridiculous. Or maybe it was a sibling thing. Frank would never know, since he was an only child.

 

Mikey pushed the sketch pad back towards Lindsey. “It’ll work. Just… good luck convincing everyone to help you out. That’s a lot of people for just one prom proposal.”

 

“It’ll work.” Frank said. “Besides, everyone in the band likes Gee anyway.”

 

* * *

 

  
  


Frank hated this plan. It was so stupid, he couldn’t believe he was doing it. He couldn’t believe that he had talked so many people into helping him do it. He also couldn’t believe that Brendon and Ashley were so good at painting.

 

Actually, he could believe that Ashley was good at painting. She gave off that artsy vibe, kind of like Gee except with the ability to socialise outside of band practice. Brendon, on the other hand, was a surprise. But, there he was, fingers covered in paint and glitter right alongside Ashley and finishing up the poster that Lindsey and Frank had designed.

 

Frank had the artistic abilities of a newborn kitten. Lindsey, on the other hand, was probably going to end up at art school after she took a gap year in Scotland. So Frank had verbalised his ideas for the poster, and Lindsey had actually sketched them onto the posterboard before handing it off to Brendon and Ashley and threatening death by trombone if they fucked it up. 

 

“Okay! It’s done.” Brendon lept up, glitter falling off of his fingers and landing in his voluminous hair. He tugged on Frank’s (bare) arm, coating that in a thin covering of glitter and red paint. “Frank, this is good, right? I don’t need another trombone slide to the head.”

 

“You never told me why that happened.” Ashley said from where she was still sitting on the floor. Her long blue hair had been pulled back from her face, half up in twin buns that made her look like she had cat ears or something. 

 

Brendon waved his hand dismissively. “Later. When Frank isn’t about to lose his status as a bachelor.”

 

“I’m not proposing to Gee, I’m asking them to prom.” Frank said, pointedly  _ not _ looking at Brendon or Ashley but instead focusing on the poster on the floor. It looked cool. It was a shame that he was going to have to rip through it, but dramatic entrances were fucking cool and Frank wanted to seem a little cool. Just this once. He crouched down and dared to lightly run his fingers over one of the glittering skeletons that decorated the edge of the poster. A few flakes of glitter stuck to his fingers. “There’s a difference.”

 

“You’re probably going to get laid, though.” Ashley said, patting him on the back with a hand that was probably covered in paint. Well, at least he was planning to change shirts before he presented this whole crazy thing. “That’s pretty significant.”

 

“ _ Ashley! _ ” Frank couldn’t see Brendon from where he was sitting on the floor, but he was pretty sure that Brendon was faking being scandalised. Beside him, Ashley rolled her eyes. “Brendon, come on. I’m not a kid. I know how prom usually works.”

 

Before Brendon could say anything to Ashley to let her know that fourteen still qualified as a kid in some areas of life, Lindsey sprinted over, dragging a startled Mikey Way by his elbow. “Gee’s alone. Mikey just told them that he has to finish a test with his math teacher and to just wait. We need to get everyone together, like,  _ now _ . I don’t want Gee to just give up and come in here.”

 

“Here” being the band room, of course, which Lindsey, Ray, and Jamia had barricaded as soon as the final bell rang and everyone necessary for the project was inside. They hadn’t blocked off the door that led straight to the outside, because that was the one they were planning to use to get to Gee. Frank grabbed the poster, hurriedly thanked Brendon and Ashley for painting it, and then proceeded to follow Lindsey around for the next five minutes because he was still a little lost on what was happening.

 

Ray appeared suddenly, with his girlfriend and one of her cheerleader friends in tow. “Frank, you know Christa, right?”

 

“Yeah, duh, of course.” He said. He nodded at Christa, they exchanged friendly “hey’s.” Ray nodded, his hair bobbing with the motion. “Okay, so she and Hayley,” the other girl, who had bright orange hair cut to her chin, gave a peace sign, “are going to be holding the poster. You also might want a different shirt. You’ve got paint all over the one you’re wearing.”

 

“Yeah. Shit, thanks.” Frank handed the poster over to Christa and Hayley and then walked off to find his backpack, where he had shoved an actual dress shirt into that morning. Because he wanted to look good, and apparently that shirt made him look good. Well, according to Jamia it did, but she was also a lesbian so maybe she didn’t know anything. But he trusted her, and so he was changing shirts in the middle of the band room. He had done so before--no one in the band had any sense of boundaries anymore--but there had always been other people changing around him as well. This time, it was just Frank. 

 

No one did anything dumb, though. Probably because Ray and Lindsey were now corralling them into lines and Brendon was shouting something about how he should be in charge since he was  _ actually _ a drum major. As Frank attempted to tie his tie for the fifth time, he heard Lindsey threaten to hit Brendon with her trombone again if he didn’t shut up and get in line. 

 

“Frank, let’s go.” Ray called out, and Frank yanked the tie off. It wasn’t cooperating and he probably looked dumb with it on anyway. And it wasn’t like Gee would really care if Frank had a tie or not. Gee lived in the same sweatshirt for weeks sometimes. Gee didn’t give a fuck.

 

Even so, Frank still ran a hand through his hair as he got into position behind the poster. He nodded to Christa, who threw Frank a grin over her shoulder, and then she and Hayley were walking forward, Brendon was throwing open the doors before falling back in next to Ashley, and the miniature band was playing the school’s fight song. 

 

The original plan had been for everyone to learn a song that both Frank and Gee liked, and to tie in some romantic “this is our song, Gee, how cute” thing, but that hadn’t worked. Mainly because Frank wasn’t sure he and Gee even had a song, but also because most of Frank’s music taste didn’t translate well into marching band music. So, they just went with the fight song. It turned out to not be so bad. People looked up as the group made their way around to the front of the school, to the cluster of benches near the flagpole where Frank knew Gee always waited for Mikey or whoever they were driving home. Frank couldn’t see much over the poster, but he could see that some people were pointing at the sign.

 

Whatever. Let them judge Frank for designing a promposal poster full of gore and horror references. At least Brendon and Ashley were smart enough to know not to add glitter to any of the vampires. Gee would never forgive Frank if there were Twilight-esque vampires involved in this shit. 

 

Hayley and Christa came to a stop, and the group finished the shortened version of the song. Frank bit down on his lip and then charged forward. He was supposed to rip through the poster and tear it in half, like how the football team did at the beginning of every game, but the poster didn’t rip. Instead, Frank smashed his nose into the thing and it flew out of Hayley’s grip, flapping straight into Gee’s face and spraying excess glitter onto the bush next to them. Frank nearly toppled into Gee’s lap, which would have been really fucking embarrassing. 

 

Instead, he did the not embarrassing thing and made jazz hands. Someone behind him stifled a laugh and it came out as a snort. Frank ignored them, whoever they were. He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Ta-da?”

 

Gee stared up at him with their hazel eyes wide. They were wearing mascara and lipgloss, but everything else about them read homeless artist. They blinked. “Is this your way of asking me to prom?”

 

“I… yeah.” Suddenly Frank was feeling like the dramatics were a mistake. Sure, Gee was into making things big and loud and Super Fucking Intense when it came to the band and their art, but outside of that? Total hermit. Totally awkward turtle of a person. They probably didn’t appreciate having a huge audience.

 

A grin spread across Gee’s face and they reached up, grabbing Frank by the fabric of his shirt and pulling him down on top of them. Gee kissed Frank, tasting like cherries. Frank resisted the urge to lick at Gee’s mouth, because Mikey was literally right there, and Mikey had been so helpful in all of this and didn’t deserve being scarred for life by watching his sibling make out with Frank again. Then, of course, some one shouted “Fuck yeah!” and there were a series of catcalls and shouts, and Frank decided,  _ why the fuck not _ , and shoved his tongue into Gee’s mouth. Gee tightened their grip on Frank’s shirt, pulling him closer, and Frank fisted his hands in Gee’s hair. 

 

The moment was ruined by something soft smacking against the side of Frank’s face, and Mikey shouting “Get a fucking room, oh my God!” with Pete laughing in the background because at least Pete could appreciate the irony of that statement. Frank pulled back from Gee to see what the fuck had hit him in the face, only to find that it was Mikey’s grey beanie and it was sitting in a sad lump beside Frank’s leg. Frank picked it up and twirled it around. Gee spread their hand out across Frank’s chest (he was basically sitting on Gee’s lap but he wasn’t going to move). Gee’s fingertips curled in a little. “It was pretty creative, so I guess I’ll go with you.”

 

“You  _ guess _ ?” Frank said, smushing the beanie across Gee’s face. “You make out with me in front of your brother and most of all your friends and all you can say is  _ I guess _ ?”

 

“I didn’t want to look too desperate.” Gee’s voice was muffled by the beanie. Frank rolled his eyes and lifted the beanie enough that it wasn’t covering Gee’s mouth anymore before kissing Gee again. This time without the tongue. Mikey still had a trombone that he could throw if he really felt like it. Frank didn’t want to get added to the list of “suffered a possible concussion at the hands of a trombone” that was plastered on the corner of the white board in the band room. Right now, it only had Brendon’s name on it, but that could change at any time.

 

Keeping their faces mostly hidden behind the beanie, Frank whispered, “you’re not desperate. You didn’t ask the whole band to help you ask anyone out, did you?”

 

“So this is you asking me to be your person as well as your promdate?” Gee asked, smiling. Frank nodded, and Gee kissed him again. Gee plucked the beanie off of Frank’s hand and put it on their own head, smushing down their hair. “Alright. I’d like to be your person, assuming you want to be my boyfriend?”

 

“Hell. Fucking, Yes.” Frank said, and kissed Gee, hard, trombone-induced concussions be damned. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave kudos or a comment or something?


End file.
